Isn't it a bit a bit unfair to choose the king George and richelieu class against a ship like the Iowa that was build during the war when many lessons had been learned? I would find a confrontation between the USS Iowa very interesting

Isn't it a bit a bit unfair to choose the king George and richelieu class against a ship like the Iowa that was build during the war when many lessons had been learned? I would find a confrontation between the USS Iowa very interesting

Sure, but I'm limiting it to ships that saw active service during WW2. The only other candidate from the British perspective is HMS Vanguard, and I don't think there are any later designs from the French and Italians.

Wasn't the Yamato's armour much heavier than that of her contemporaries for the same protection because of Japan's inferior quality steel?

One reason Yamato never did much is how much fuel she consumed. She had
very think armor, the quality of which I'm not sure has ever been tested.

Why she never took part in the Japanese effort to re-capture Guadalcanal,
other than fuel consumption, I don't know. She was a symbol of Japan's
ability to build a huge battleship, as much as anything else. But, her 18 in
guns could have done a lot of damage if they had been used.